Dissecting flowering time and flower color in Carum carvi utilizing a long-read draft genome and a GBS-based QTL mapping
摘要
Caraway (Carum carvi L.) is a major essential oil crop with biennial and annual flowering types. As basic research resource, we developed a draft genome assembly using long-read ONT sequencing and provide a structural and functional gene annotation for an annual caraway inbred line. To elucidate the genetic control of flowering, a genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) was conducted for an F2 population (N = 187) generating 731 strictly filtered SNPs. A linkage map was constructed spanning 663 cM across 10 linkage groups with in total 634 (full map) or 259 (thinned map) SNPs. Contrary to its dominance in F1, annual flowering occurred in only 36% of F2 plants under late sowing conditions. Furthermore, the annual F2 plants exhibited delayed flowering compared to the annual parent. QTL analysis identified five significant QTLs for (adjusted) flowering time (LG02, LG03, LG05, LG08 and LG10) explaining 6.1% to 10.5% (in total 42.7%) of phenotypic variance. The results support a polygenic predominately additive model for flowering induction in caraway. In addition, two QTLs for flower color (LG01, LG10) were detected explaining 10.9% and 26.0% of phenotypic variance, respectively. This study provides a comprehensive genomic resource for caraway, bridging the gap between traditional breeding and molecular improvement.